Girl Like You
by SerenityFalconNormandy
Summary: Prompt: You make every day worth living. Ryder, Liam, and Jaal are on Voeld going after the Architect. What's a girl to do with an Angara with the flu, and a flirt she's flirting back with?


Voeld was… Voeld. A frozen deathtrap if ever there was one. Maria cursed to herself as the Nomad skidded across another patch of ice. Liam and Jaal both yelped behind her as the skid turned the vehicle and made it bump over patches of frozen snow and scree. "Not a word from either of you or so help me, I will turn this car around!"

"Okay, Mum," Liam shot back from where he had braced himself.

Jaal made a noise that was pretty much the same for every species, and as the Nomad bumped down a ridge, Maria dug around blindly until she found the pack of motion-sickness bags. Tossing it over her shoulder, she yelled, "Give these to Jaal before I have to explain the need for vomit clean-up to Gil."

Jaal groaned, "Can someone else pilot this thing on the way back?"

 _"I could pilot it remotely on the way back, Pathfinder."_

"My driving isn't that bad, and it's not my fault everything here is an ice patch!"

The Angaran just gagged again. Maria frowned to herself and bit her lip. Jaal had to be hiding that he was sick, stubborn man. He hadn't reacted to her driving like this before. She was going to herd him to Lexi when they were back on the Tempest whether he liked it or not. " _I will send Doctor T'Parro a message to prepare the medbay in anticipation of our return, Maria."_

The great thing about having SAM in her head was she didn't have to say some things out loud and risk a mini krogan or Angaran rebellion.

"So why are we going out to the arse-end of Voeld again?" Liam spoke loudly to try and cover the sound of retching Angaran.

"Remember when we were out here tagging and bagging the ancient eirochs?"

"Vaguely. This iceball has been a blur of avoiding kett and frostbite, not necessarily in that order."

"Well-" Maria stopped to concentrate on keeping the Nomad from rolling as they skidded again, "I saw an Architect."

All three of them yelled in surprise as said Architect flew over them, the roar it let out rocking the Nomad and sending it spinning across the snow and ice.

"Architect!"

"No shite, Sherlock!"

"Jaal, I hope your stomach's settled, because we've got an angry Architect to take down!"

He responded with a hurking noise, and clumsily pulled his rifle across his lap. His cheeks were about the same color as his rofjinn, probably the Angaran equivalent of being flushed with fever. All three of them pulled on their protective helmets and activated the life support function. Voeld was no place to go without.

Even still, when the Nomad's side door opened, a trio of gasps at the biting cold echoed in the comm.

"Bloody hell." Liam's teeth chattered loud enough to be heard through their comm channel.

"Let's get this done and over with. Ryder Popsicle is not in the plans."

"Kosta Pops has a ring to it, but I'd like to keep those off the market for as long as possible."

Maria snorted and dashed towards the closest heating tower, knowing her suit's life support would need the backup. Her teeth chattered as she called through the comm, "Jaal, stay back and take your shots as they come. Stay as close to a heating tower as you can while still staying in range. Kosta, with me."

Jaal jogged to the heating towers and set up, making a honking, sniffling noise when he thought the comms weren't active. Definitely sick, then. The screeching of the Architect vibrated the ground and the air. Crackling red energy filled the air, and Maria dodged behind cover, screaming through the comm for Liam to get down.

The rest of it was a blur. Cora had almost died fighting the first Architect on Eos with Maria and Liam. Re-running the video from their collective HUDs had shown them where the weaknesses were, and how to exploit them without risking death. The dodging, rolling, flinging biotics, and listening to both Liam and Jaal's breathing in her comm became her sole focus. Even when the gigantic machine was crashing to the ice, the adrenaline sang through her and she whipped her rifle around, almost expecting that kett or Roekaar would jump them.

"Can we get back to the ship now?" Jaal wheezed. It was followed by a loud, honking sneeze.

"I'm calling Kallo now, Jaal. Lexi will be waiting for you."

There was a long, telling pause. "I do not need a doctor."

Maria sighed. "Look, I know it's a really private thing for Angara, but we can't risk it making a jump to the other members of the crew, all right?"

The noise he made was an impressive mix of disgust and mucus.

 _"Dr. T'Parro has been notified and is awaiting our arrival."_

Jaal muttered under his breath about nosy, interfering AIs, then let out another explosive sneeze and a groan.

As the Tempest hovered over them, Liam switched to their private comm channel. "So, Architects, frostbite, Angara with the flu, you make every day worth living, Pathfinder."

Maria snorted. "You'd get bored without something to focus on, Kosta."

"Something besides your bum in that armor, right?"

"I know you can't see it, but I'm rolling my eyes at you so hard right now. Wait until I can feel my toes again to start flirting, dude."


End file.
